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In a business world obsessed with bigger, faster, and louder, it’s easy to believe that scaling a membership means adding more. More features, more marketing, more hustle.
But after 16 years of running memberships, James discovered that the opposite is true: the path to growth is about doing less, not more.
Today, James shares how he doubled his membership by simplifying the offer, streamlining the delivery, and rethinking what it really means to support members. If you’re building, or rebuilding, a membership, these lessons might just change the way you approach it.
Table of contents:
1. The real opportunity: after the hype fades
2. Building a two-tiered model that actually serves members
3. Simplifying everything: offer, pricing, and delivery
4. Designing for lifestyle, not just business
5. Minimalist tech, maximum results
6. Adding leverage with AI workflows
7. The real win: a calmer, stronger business
The real opportunity: after the hype fades
A few years ago, the membership space exploded. Everywhere you looked, new communities were popping up on every platform imaginable.
But just as quickly, many of them fizzled out.
Rather than chasing the trend, James stepped back. He let his low-ticket membership, Connect, run quietly while he focused on Mentor, his high-ticket offer.
When the dust settled, the opportunity became clear: people still wanted community and support, but they were craving simplicity, not noise.
It was the perfect time to rebuild.
Building a two-tiered model that actually serves members
One of the first shifts James made was creating a clear path between two membership levels.
Connect serves self-motivated business owners who want structure, clarity, and support without breaking the bank.
Mentor offers higher-touch, faster strategic direction for experienced founders.
By separating the tiers, and keeping them on the same platform but in distinct spaces, James was able to meet people where they were without overwhelming them.
Members could grow inside the ecosystem without feeling pressured or lost.
Simplifying everything: offer, pricing, and delivery
The most powerful changes were the simplest:
* Simplified offer: No bonus stacks, no long funnels. Just a $10 trial for 10 days, then $59/month.
* Simplified marketing: No webinars, no sales calls. Just straightforward messaging through podcasts, social posts, and a simple sign-up page.
* Simplified delivery: No massive content libraries. Members use a progress journal to get personalized direction and track wins.
The focus shifted from consuming content to making real progress, one step at a time.
Designing for lifestyle, not just business
James also moved away from real-time coaching models that demanded daily calls and constant availability.
Instead, he embraced asynchronous coaching, supporting members through their progress journals on his own schedule.
This shift didn’t just free up James’s time. It made the membership more accessible for members, too.
They didn’t have to rearrange their lives to get help. They could reach out when they needed it and keep moving at their own pace.
Minimalist tech, maximum results
A clean membership model needs clean tech.
James consolidated everything. Landing pages, community, cart, playbooks, on one platform: KLEQ.
It’s hosted on James’s domain, fully branded, distraction-free, and simple for both James and his members.
When tech gets out of the way, what’s left is what matters: relationships, progress, and results.
Adding leverage with AI workflows
One of the biggest catalysts for growth was integrating AI into the business.
James built custom GPTs to help with lead magnets, landing pages, VSLs, and emails.
The result? Automated marketing and onboarding that keeps new members flowing in, without a big performance-heavy launch cycle.
Better still, James now shares these tools with his members, helping them build their own assets faster and easier than ever before.
The real win: a calmer, stronger business
Doubling James’s membership wasn’t about scaling complexity. It was about scaling clarity.
It was about building a business that supports James’s life, not the other way around.
Today, Connect runs simply and profitably, giving members real results without overwhelming them, and giving James freedom to live the life he wants.
If you’re thinking about building or refining your own membership, consider this: It’s not about how much you can add. It’s about how much you can take away, and still deliver transformational value.
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